The Civil War inspired countless narratives, poems and journals to be written. Countless soldiers wrote journals on the Civil War and writers such as Frederick Douglass wrote inspired by events that helped fuel the war

Shortly after the inauguration of Lincoln, most southern states left the Union and formed the Confederate States of America. Soon after, the Confederate States fired on Fort Sumter, which inevitably started the Civil War. At first, the war was only to keep the United States together, but then another cause came about: abolishing slavery. Henry Thoreau had been a major author in the Transcendentalist period who had voiced his opinions through writings like CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE. Soon after, writers such Frederick Douglass, Ambrose Pearce, and Stephen Crane wrote on the Civil War and slavery.